On disc: Treat

- Claudia Ehrhardt -

It's been a long time since Treat released their last studio album, not talking about compilations and stuff. In the mid-80's the Swedish released some great albums, then they slowly vanished. In 2005 they came back, play live and offered a previously unreleased track and 2 new ones on Weapon Of Choice. But Coup de Grace is the first studio album since their self-titled album in 1992.
The intro Prelude - Coup de Grace kicks off, the first song is called The War Is Over and shows that the Swedish fivesome is as good as back in the 80's! They present exactly what fans of melodic metal are looking for, heavy rockers with catchy vocals and great guitar play. The backings are in the 80's fashion, but songs like All In don't sound backdated! Even the Hammond organ don't give you this impression, coz you can feel that they do what they want to do - that the fire is burning again. At Paper Tiger Robert Ernlund reminds me a bit of his fellow countryman Joey Tempest at Wings Of Tomorrow. An album I still love, so I won't complain. After the powerful Roar which invites you to sing along, it's time for a ballad! A Life To Die For is a typical Treat ballad with passion and perhaps the backings are a bit too much... Great guitar play. It gets heavy again with Tangled Up, a riff-based rocker. Again the backings are close to overdoing it... Again guitarists Anders Wikstrom and Patrick Appelgren doing a great job here. Slow and atmospheric they kick off Skies Of Mongolia, but then becomes a riff-based, keyboard-laden tune. A faster one is I'm Not Runnin', and this one will hook you up immediately. And they speed up even more for No Way Without You, some parts sound familiar, but I can't fathom it. Anyway, this one is fun! With We Own The Night they present a powerful balladesque track, a bit too predictable... After All For Love which sounds too familiar they end the album with Breathless where the Hammond sound is back, but combined with heavy riffs. A bit Whitesnake-ish... at least partly.Treat present a strong album, but at several tracks they show similarities to other acts... Anyway, it's a good album which every melodic metal fan should check out!